"It would mean everything if one of these countries could produce a champion in the future. We've got a young Belgian boy Luca Brecel, we've put him in the series.

"He's just won the European Under-19s so we gave him a wildcard into it, so it's all going to be about giving the cream of the talent wildcards into it.

"It would be as satisfying seeing one of them win something as it would me winning it. I was over in Israel playing a young chap, Shakar Rubair, who's 14.

"For him to get the chance to play me, he had a whole apartment renovated, in match conditions, for me to go over there and play him for a few days."

There will be 16 players in this year's World Series finals in Portugal - the World Cup of snooker.

Higgins went on: "We're not about creating a different world champion like in boxing. We spoke to World Snooker about that."